Henry Ball (c. 1783-?1856), fossil collector of Watchet, Somerset, and the forced sale of his collection in 1841 to Robert H.W. Bartlett (c. 1814-1887)

This note records a poorly known geologicalcollector, Henry Ball, surgeon of Watchet in Somerset, his collection of local Liassic fossils, and its opportunist purchaser, Somerset lawyer Robert H.W. Bartlett. Genealogical information, unless stated, is taken from the usual sources accessed on www.ancestry.co.uk, www.familysearch.org and FreeBMD, with the kind help of Ball's modern-day relatives Pat Hewson and Roz Searle (both pers.comm. 2016)